The third day of our trip to the Holy Land started in Nazareth, Jesus’ home town, at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation. This is one of several different churches of the annunciation in Nazareth. In Jesus’ time there was a spring there, and Mary’s Well is where the eastern orthodox believe that Mary was drawing water when she was visited by the angel Gabriel. The current site of Mary’s Well is a nonfunctioning re-creation that was dedicated in the year 2000. It’s a beautiful church, and I included quite a few pictures of the religious art displayed there. There is a ‘lower church’, which is below the ‘upper church’.
Our next stop was the ‘Synagogue Church‘ in Nazareth. This is on the campus of the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation. It is believed that Jesus taught in the synagogue here. This is the site where the people of Nazareth got upset at Jesus’ teaching, and took him to a precipice to throw him off. Kevin taught about this story from Luke 4: 16-30. This is an ‘A’ site.
Then we went to the Catholic Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth. It’s a beautiful church, and I included quite a few pictures from there. In the entrance to the church there are 16 national mosaics honoring Mary, contributed by different countries. I included pictures of some of them. I don’t think the USA one is very attractive 😊. There are another 43 mosaics from different countries in the courtyard; we didn’t get any pictures of those.
After that, we traveled to Mt. Precipice, which is where we remember the event of Jesus being taken to the precipice after preaching in the synagogue, as I described previously. This is a ‘B’ site. Kevin taught about this site. There is a nice view of Nazareth from there, and also a view of the Jezreel Valley. The city of Megiddo, in the Jezreel Valley, is where many decisive battles occurred, as described in the Old Testament. Some believe that the final battle of Armageddon will be fought here (‘Armageddon’ is ‘Mountain of Megiddo’ in Hebrew). You can also see Mt. Tabor from this viewpoint, which is where some believe that the Transfiguration of Jesus occurred. Another possible location is Mt. Hermon, which we visit tomorrow.
Our next stop was the city of Zippori, aka Sepphoris, at the Zippori National Park. This was a large city in Jesus’ time, and likely a place where Jesus and Joseph worked as carpenters and stone masons. There are some famous, beautiful, mosaic floors that have been uncovered there, including one known as “the Mona Lisa of Galilee”. Zippori was known for its theatre and play acting, and the term ‘hypocrite’ that Jesus uses means ‘actor’. Kevin taught from Matthew 23:13, where Jesus calls the scribes and Pharisees hypocrites. This is an ‘A’ site.
Then we went to Cana, where Jesus performed his first public miracle, at Mary’s request, of turning water into wine. This is an ‘A’ site, and Kevin taught from John 2: 1-12. They asked if anybody wanted to renew their marriage vows there. Our wedding anniversary is June 5. What a great way to celebrate our anniversary; to renew our wedding vows at the place where Jesus and Mary attended the wedding feast at Cana!
We headed from Cana back to Migdal to see the synagogue excavations there.
Then we went on a boat cruise on the Sea of Galilee. It was inspiring to be out on the sea where Jesus and the apostles spent so much time. The owner of the cruise company, Daniel Carmel, is also a well known local musician, and he sang for us while we were cruising on the Sea of Galilee! More information about the cruise is here. Kevin taught from Matthew 14:22-23 on the boat. This is obviously an ‘A’ site.
There are a lot of pictures, but it was a busy day!
One Comment
Great pics. You both are cute and relaxed in your couple photos.